Grand Theft Auto V Sets Single-Day Video Game Sales Record

The overall market for video games has been in a tailspin for years, but certain top-tier game titles continue to generate impressive results. And so it was this week with the latest episode in the lucrative Grand Theft Auto series of games: Grand Theft Auto V racked up an astonishing $800 million in sales in its first day of availability.

"All of us at Take-Two are thrilled with the initial response to Grand Theft Auto V," Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said. “Once again, the team at Rockstar Games have outdone themselves, setting the entertainment industry's new standard for creativity, innovation, and excellence. We are incredibly proud of Rockstar Games' creative achievement and could not be more pleased with the success of this launch."

And it really is an achievement. By comparison, the previous record-setter, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, earned $500 million its first day and $1 billion in 15 days late last year. And the previous Grand Theft Auto game—Grand Theft Auto IV—had $310 million in sales on its own first day in the market five years ago. By comparison, only 40 movies have ever grossed more than $800 million, and none of them were able to hit that figure in just a day. The biggest single-day movie opening of all time, for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II in 2011, grossed just $91 million.

Not bad for a game that includes such dark and adult subject matter as beating up police officers and prostitutes, consuming illegal drugs, and rampant nudity and sex. This game bears a closer resemblance to a Quentin Tarantino film than a Super Mario Bros. game.

Although the game is expected to cross the $1 billion milestone very quickly, Grand Theft Auto V sales will drop off rapidly after that. And compared with movie sales, there's no secondary rental market to count on. But it will be interesting to see how this title performs over the next few weeks, in comparison with the several other blockbuster game releases expected this holiday season. A new Call of Duty title, Ghosts, will debut in November, for example.

The true beauty in this is the timing. It's far enough from the launch of the next gen consoles that they will sell $1 billion to the current gen. In 4 or 5 months they will launch it for the XBox One and PS4 for $200 million or so more. Then another 6 months down the road they will release it for PC which will spawn a modding community and probably another $150-$200 million.

In addition to all the violence and sex, there is probably more bad language in GTA V than in any other entertainment product in history. I wonder if all those parents buying it for their little kids to keep them quiet would be happy if they knew what little Tarquin was being exposed to.